It’s new car time, not a task I look forward to having only had 3 cars in the last 20+ years of driving my current one was given to me by my dad when he upgraded.
I’ve seen a nice 2007 320i estate 50,000miles for 7k, wondered what people’s thoughts were on that, good car? Thirsty? Tho would be hard not to be better than the 24mpg I get from the current terrano.
Don’t really need a diesel as mileage is under 10k a year
Thoughts appriciated

Great cars, go for it …
the 2lt is even reasonably pokey ….

Nice motor, plenty of them about for spares etc and a good support network of independent garages.

A friend has the same engine in a coupe and loves it.

Just take in to account the rear wheel drive factor and the potential for winter tyres being needed if you drive in the snow a lot.

Personally I’d go for something a little older and with higher mileage to get a bigger engine, the BMW 4 pot is ok but the straight 6 is better. There is an abundance of spec choices, parkers.co.uk has a good enough spec sheet for all configurations.

325i – http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/bmw/e90-3-series-05-12/2006-06-bmw-3-series-2-5-325i-se-touring-5d-215-bhp/2722791

Good price….

Do it.
I’ve got a diesal so can’t comment on mpg but would guess at mid to high 30s urban
Very nice to drive. I got winter tyres 3 years ago. I reckon it’s made a differance in the snow, and colder conditions. Car feels very stable.

Boot isn’t the biggest. I can get two bikes and kit in, seats down back wheels still on bike.

Holds value fairly well. Find a good Indi garage for service and your laughing!!

Thanks for the posts, they must be pretty popular hardest thing at the moment seems to be getting to see one before they get sold. Having had a 325i coupe in the years BC that would be my preferred choice engine as I loved the sound and smooth power of the straight six but my head is saying go for the slightly less powerful but bit more economical 2.0
The search continues

Just picked up an 09 325i Touring. Really glad I got the bigger engine. Sounds lovely.

Will give it a coule of years and look for the last of the E91 in a 330/335i format.

I bought a 2007 320i Tourer last September. Found a great example on eBay. FSH, 58,000 miles, M-Sport spec and the le mans blue colour which I always wanted. Went over to N Ireland to pick it up and the seller had also fitted a new front tyre for me. Only cost me 6.5k and I can get around 36mpg if I drive like my Papa. I changed from a diesel Golf as I needed something a wee bit bigger and to be honest when I bought the BMW the price of petrol started dropping so I’m really happy with running cost so far. It’s only the 150bhp not the 170bhp but it’ll still pick up speed pretty quickly if you want it.

I have a 2014 330d M sport touring ….
TBH on British roads I am not sure that anything more than 2.0 makes much sense. You can’t actually use it.

If you buy a 320 or 325i, you’ll only be wishing you bought the 330i. The drop in mpg is insignificant, but the revs.. oh the revs.

Either that, or you’ll also be thinking “for this amount of fun and power, I could really have gotten away with a 320d and remapped it”.

Another option: I have driven a 335d, and that’s about the only revvy one of the bunch. Pulls like a **** train when remapped.

what is the best suspension out of the m-sport and se specs?

I want decent turn in and lack of wallow, but not at the expense of rattling my spine out!

Hello

Right, is it the 150bhp or 170? I have a 320i coupe (57 plate).

Revved hard it goes well 8 secs to 60 and keeps on going. I’ve got 48mpg from mine at 70mph and the lowest is about 30mpg crawling into town at 10mph.

The engine is very refined too. Ignore most of the Internet who compare it with a 320d (with more torque) – it’s a different beast and needs to be revved.

If you want any more info PM me! Buy it 🙂

You won’t get that from a 325 or 330 . My mates 330 does 35mpg absolute best!

Petrol Beemer- no turbo etc to worry about. Definitely/why not? 😀

To be honest, I spent ages looking at 3 series touring but ended up with a 2007 Saab 93 estate, bought a lovely 150bhp 1.9 TID Vector Sport for £4k with 113k miles on it but a massive stack of reciepts and from a very reputable local dealer. I just found 3 series were too much money compared to the others. My budget was £4k and I was looking at ropey poverty spec 320 SEs circa 2004 which werent filling me with joy.

I had an E91 330i before we decided to prematurely get rid and follow the dream of getting a T5. Otherwise we’d have had that car for a long, long time. Fantastic thing as a package but the engine… Ours was an auto so pootling along… put foot right down and it made a lovely noise and started going very fast.

I’d love another one (or a 335i estate).

To be honest, I spent ages looking at 3 series touring but ended up with a 2007 Saab 93 estate, bought a lovely 150bhp 1.9 TID Vector Sport for £4k with 113k miles on it but a massive stack of reciepts and from a very reputable local dealer. I just found 3 series were too much money compared to the others. My budget was £4k and I was looking at ropey poverty spec 320 SEs circa 2004 which werent filling me with joy.

Whats your point caller?

For me, it’s two cyinders short – personally I’d hang on for a six pot.

We have an E90 330 M Sport and I love it – I honestly think that I’ll struggle to replace it now that the 6 pot is all but dead. It’s reasonably swift, sounds lovely (to my ears at least), pretty comfy and hasn’t raped my wallet like my E46 325 did.

The ride on M Sport cars is certainly firm, but I don’t think it’s that bad even still running run flats. The M Sport is worth it for the seats – I find them really, really comfy.

Fuel wise our 330 sits around 26mpg but its an auto and spends a lot of time in town, doing short trips. On a long run at 75/80 it’ll return around 33mpg.

Running costs have been OK so far – it’s had a full set of tyes (circa £800 for 18 inch run flats) and a repair to the VANOS unit that was £300. I still need to get the fuel vent tank pipe replaced because it has split (common problem on pre-face lift cars).

As much as I love it, now that we have a litte ‘un I wish that we’d hung on for a touring. Our car came up at the right price and in the right colour combo (Le Mans blue and Dakota Lemon interior).

There’s more to life than mpg! Go six cyl!

If you buy a diesel with DPF and that needs replacing, it’ll be a very long time before you see a saving over petrol.

Anyway anything over 25 mpg is good.

Whichever engine you choose .. One thing to bear in mind is that some models (usually M sports) have stepped tyres (wider and different profile) at the back whereas the SE’s usually have the same all round.

It’s worth checking and is handy if they’re all the same in that you can rotate them etc. Also, despite them looking nicer 18″ rims (or rather the tyres to fit) cost a shed load more than 17″ profile..

Rotating tyres is, in my opinion, a waste of time. The rear wear out twice as fast as the front so just replace and move on. The amount of wear is the same.

Stepped 18s cost me £550 for a fully fitted and balanced set of Goodyear Eagles.

Probably the exception rather than the rule, but my bro-in-law bought a 320i touring a couple of years ago (second hand) and has loads of trouble with it.
Has had various sensors replaced, injectors, the cat (I think) as it was struggling to start and then would run really badly, various engine management lights coming on. Sometimes it would turn over, but wouldn’t start for several button presses. Then when it did start, sometimes it would be fine, other times it would run really badly
I think it is much better than it was, but they still have occasions when it doesn’t ‘run right’.

It was bought from an independent trader who tried various fixes before taking it to BMW for a look-see and I think they were a bit stumped too. They didn’t managed to find a definitive problem/fix.

Apart from that it seems like a lovely car.
Not that much room in the back if you are hoping that by going for an estate you’ll get a load lugger.

Just picked up a 06 530d touring, getting 34mpg average to work and back, without really trying. @ Mikertriod 2 days after picking car up – bam – back in with a DPF filter warning 🙂 6 new glowplugs under warranty fortunately.

OP, for the sake of comparison: I payed just over 7k for mine, with 95k on the clock, fully loaded, with 1 year warranty.

Had a 2008 320d.. Nice engine.. But the electrics were erratic and the bumpers and plastic bodywork bits very very fragile and in snow the thing was useless.

I’m getting low 30s to mid out of my 325i driving smoothly with the odd burst of speed here and there… Mainly on B and Minor A roads.

2006 320d here. Odd minor niggles, but its the only car I’ve had that’s never failed to start on me and never broken down (touches wood). Bought it at 83k 5 years ago, just ticked over 140k.

Front bumper looks a little tired from stone chips, but other than that, you’d never guess the miles.

No problems in the snow, although I do have winter tyres (the limiting factor is the low front bumper).

Suspension wise – mine is an M-sport – bought mostly because of the sports seats (I tried an SE and slid around all over the place). On the original springs and dampers it was a bit harsh and a bit wobbly. About 25k ago, the dampers needed replacing, so based on owners forum advice I swapped to Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers. Still a bit harsh, but no where near as wobbly, and with summer (18″) wheels on it’s a delight to steer – just turns in beautifully, and I can forgive it being a bit clattery over the potholes in return.

The only thing I’d swap it for is an identical 6 pot (don’t really care if it’s petrol or diesel these days)

530s are lovely – had a 530 M sport.
Stunning car, but with the most rubbish DC socket / lighter which was a 1p piece of creased plastic ….

How many miles do you normally get out of a set of tyres?

Mindmap3 said he paid £800 for a set of run-flats, and Daffy was £550 for a set of Goodyears.

I drive a Defender, and the tyres last for yonks, so I’m curious about running costs if I ever decide to change to a car.

Don’t forget to remap these d’s when they run out of warranty!

I bought a 330d last year while I was waiting for my company car to be built (another BMW) and loved it. My wife’s just bought a 325i on an 07 plate, they really are lovely lovely cars and I’d wait for a 6 pot. Saying that the one the OP listed seems good value.

I recently sold my 2006 320d M Sport. I really did love the car, I’m a BMW fan after all, but it did give me a few expensive problems, main one was the Turbo blew at 57k which isn’t good in anyones book. I also switched to non RFT’s, I got about 20k from rears, 40K+ from fronts.

Ive actually replaced it with a new F30 320d M Sport auto which is great but I think I prefer the E90 on a whole, My one regret, not getting a 330i E90…

The car doesn’t do huge miles, so hopefully the tyres will last a while. It’s fine about 10k since the rears where fitted and they’re about half worn now which ties into my 325. I used to get 18-20k out of rears and loads from fronts.

I know a lot of people ditch the run flats but I’ve stuck with them because there were just enough people on Pistonheads who weren’t happy after ditching them. I don’t think the ride is too bad on them, but they are expensive.

I keep telling myself that an M3 saloon will be a suitable replacement but I think the running costs will be ruinous. We’ll probably end up with a late 335 touring as a replacement.

Some more info here based on my cars –

Our 325d M Sport Convertible auto with paddle shift is a joy to drive. You can be lazy and plod along or put into sport mode using the paddle shift it absolutely flies. Average around town during the winter just over 30mpg but mid 40’s on a run.

The 318d Touring Exclusive Edition that we also have averages high 40’s with up to 60mpg on a run although the genuine BMW roof bars knock that down and make a horrible noise.

I would agree with others the M Sport seats are really nice especially if leather and heated. Roof down when it’s -2C is great as long as you have a hat and gloves.

Tyre wise I have just put 2 x 17″ Bridgestones on the back of the tourer and they were £118 each. For the Convertible with 18″ wheels they are £200 each although the fronts are £140 each. M Sport cars have wider tyres on the back hence the difference in prices.

18inch run flats are pretty pricey – the best quote that I had for a pair fitted was £570. In the end I had it done cheaper because their replacement coincided with a wheel refurb – I bought the tyres from Camskill and had the chap refurbing the wheels fit them.

Tyres from Camskill are really cheap, but you need to sorting fitting yourself.

Here’s my two penneth worth..

Agree on the seats argument SE vs M-Sport. The SE seats look and are pretty crap. Luckily I picked up an SE with the M-Sport half leather sports seats. In terms of ride, my 09 325i saloon is on runflat 17’s but it certainly isn’t wallowy.. The E9X 3 series has a fantastic front end on it that is seemingly immune to understeer (obviously the rear will break first).

As noted above NA petrol lumps normally mean simple and less things to go wrong but be careful if you are tempted by a 6cyl and you’re looking at the facelift E9X models (325i and 330i) with the N53 engine (09ish..) as they are quite a complicated beast and employ direct injection and there are reported issues with coils and injectors. There was a recall on the coils but not injectors.

The direct injection makes it sound a bit shit at idle but economy and power is slightly better than the predecessor. FWIW the facelift 325i and 330i E9X models both have the same 3.0l lump. Difference being a single vs a 3 stage intake manifold (creates slight forced induction effect on the 330i). The 330i is a peach of an engine but they are a LOT rarer than the 325i especially if you want a manual box and anything other than a coupe. There is a company that will do the 3 stage mod for about £1500 to get the 325i the extra 50bhp or so to get it up to 330i spec..

The 320i will obviously get better economy but a BMW inline 6 petrol is a thing of joy.. In terms of tyres, and as already noted, you will may have to consider winters. I drove mine on winters in the snow this year and they were stunningly good!

Agree with Nick – the 6 pot is lovely and worth the bit extra in terms of money on fuel and VED.

We ended up with the pre-face lift N52 engine and its been fine and the autobox hasn’t shat itself yet. When we looked, there were no manuals for sale – I think that when people were buying a big engined 3, they just ticked the autobox option. It was the same with the previous generation car too.

The engine makes the car in my opinion – its a rep mobile, with a functional if slightly spartan interior and less interior space than the competition. But the howl of the six pot near the redline makes it worthwhile. Ours wasn’t too bad in the snow after Christmas on the way to Sheffield this year – better than the Z4 travelling with us.

The 6 speed autobox isn’t too bad. It’s an improvement on the previous 5 speed jobbie. I quite like it most of the time, it can frustrate in the transition from granny driving to more spirited driving. When we looked, there were plenty of saloons but not many tourings (the ones that were in budget were dogs) and no manuals.